Book Club -anyone want to comment?

Ken has been feeling poorly so I thought I'd start a post to see if anyone wanted to comment on Aug book "Animal Vegetable, Mineral". I liked the book, but skipped some paragraphs!!! I hope Ken doesn't mind that I took over this for him! Just until he's feeling better.

Ken, Hope you are doing OK. Feel better soon!

How did you all like the book?

What what the most memorable thing you learned from reading it?

I'll post my answers later. I'm having an off day too. Molly was over today and she wore me out!!! LOL

dar
[This Message was Edited on 09/08/2007]
[This Message was Edited on 09/08/2007]

Good for you. I know Ken will appreciate your stepping up to the plate for him in order to hit the home run of discussion using the club of book readers or possibly a Louisville Slugger.

As predicted I never did get the book in question from the Los Angeles Library. So I did the next best thing. I read some other books by Barbara Kingsolver.

The Bean Trees (which turn out to be wisteria vines) was the best. It is about the friendship between women and finding a home for a little Indian girl.

Pigs in Heaven was also excellent. I can't remember what it was about.

Prodigal Summer featured a heroine too wishy washy and a bunch of unappealing relatives. Only read half of that one.

Kingsolver is interesting in that she not only writes novels but poetry, essays, etc. I read that she went to DePauw University in Indiana. With a school named DePauw, you would expect her to study vetinary science, but she tricked us by studying piano and biology.

Well, I'm sorry to say that after buying AVM, in hardback too, though I didnt know I'd bought hardback at the time.......I just could not get into reading this book. I tried on 5 separate occassions so I flicked through and read a few interesting bits like tips on making bread (my husband was given a bread maching for his 50th) and a part on one of Rock's potential ancestors.

I will keep it, I will flick through it but I cannot for the life of me read it......maybe I would like her novels.

Rockor- I have read her other books too. The Bean Tree and Pigs in Heaven. I also read the Poisonwood Bible which was very long and very different from her other novels. I liked all of them. I havent' read Prodigal Summer yet, so I'll put that on my list.

Rosie, AVM is very different from her novels. Her novels are very good, I think you would like them. I did like the book AVM but I'm not surprised that you didn't care for the book or had a difficult time reading it. I happened to be very interested in the subject matter as I am interested in ways to help save our planet. I never thought I would be a tree hugger, but since I got sick, I do so much better without all the chemicals in foods and that got me interested. I did skip paragraphs in the book, especially when it got a preachy.

I dont' think I could go very long eating only what is available in my local area. I love oatmeal and coffee too much! And chocolate although I'm not allowed to eat it, I still do on occasion. But it was very interesting to read how they grew thier own food and raised thier own animals to eat.

I was very impressed with the young daughter who raised her own chickens and sold extra eggs to earn money for a horse. I wonder if she ever did get that horse? My youngest son and I read an article in our local paper about people in suburbs raising chickens for fresh eggs and we were intrigued. The article talked about eating fresh eggs and how wonderful they tasted. We love eggs in our family, so I checked into getting a few chickens, but wouldn't you know, it's forbidden in our subdivision!!!

We do have a small garden though. This year we had tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers. The tomatoes got blight, so the crop was small. Last year we had tomatoes until November and it was great. We had lots of cukes this year and they were tasty. First year we did cukes. The beans were tasty too.

Thanks for stepping up!--despite Rock's groaner extended baseball metaphors. I'm still feeling crummy, and I'm still #44 on the waiting list for the Kingsolver book, so at this rate, I'll be lucky to have it by Christmas. If I'm sluggish in posting, please feel free to jump in and post Book Club posts again!

I really appreciated the book and am glad I read it. While it wasn't the fiction I prefer, I learned some things that encouraged me to make more of an effort to go to our local Farmer's Market while it was here in August. I was blissfully reminded that this is NOTHING to compare with locally homegrown food and better yet, certified organic food.

I did overdo the Red Haven peaches - heavenly - so had a bad flare from the sugar but it was (almost) worth it. I just can't imagine how anything so naturally good would cause us a problem. Same with the wonderful homegrown tomatoes and, maybe, the wonderful freshly milled whole wheat bread.

Yes, the book re-minded me - of how accustomed we get to grabbing that bunch of bananas in January or pineapple in December. And I didn't know that locally grown food is the healthiest for the people in that particular locale! Amazing. That's one way the miracle comes into play.

I also laughed out loud at some of the turkey antics. Kingsolver has an excellent way with words, whether they be fictional or non. And so does her daughter.

Ken-glad you don't mind that I stepped in a bit! I really hope you will be up to it soon, but if not, I'll be happy to fill in for you.

ovrwhelm- I liked Animal Dreams. I hope you get a chance to read that one.

Marta- I don't think I'll ever feel the same way about eating bananas again!!! They come from so far away. But that won't stop me from drinking my coffee! Although I do only buy Fair Trade Coffee now. I found an online source that is very affordable. And I loved the turkey stories too. My parents used to buy fresh birds and "process" them when my older sisters were young. My sisters still tell stories about it.

Welcome to the book club!! Anyone can join. And you really don't even have to read the book to be a member. You can just comment on the author or similar books that you read like Rockgor and some of us do.

Sometimes we can't get a hold of a pariticular book, so we don't get a chance to read it. The Aug book was a new one, so lots of book clubbers coulnd't get a copy from the library because of the waiting list. This months book "monkeewrench" AKA "want to play" has been around for a while, so it should be easer to get. I read it already. It was good! So if you have a chance, pick up a copy and read it. Then check back at the end of the month or early Oct and we will be discussing it.

got one of BK's books at the library today - The Bean Tree, looking forward to it.

I eat organic food when I can afford it, buy locally when its available - had my share of tv programmes on people who have gone to live 'off the land' - I can never quite get my head round how they can name animals, then kill and eat them!!!!

PASARA

welcome to the book club. I love the painting on your profile, its it one of yours??

This is the second time in two months I've read a true crime book, only to find out the story isn't resolved.

I think writers and publishers who put out such books should be sent to prison and only allowed to read books from which the last 100 pages have been ripped out.

Anyway this was Broken Vows, about the New Jersey Rabbi who had his wife murdered. The book ended after the first trial which ended in a hung jury.

From the internet I found out that he was subsequently convicted. The two hit men got 23 years apiece. The Rabbi got 30 years to life.

So the actual killers got a lighter sentence.

I suppose these books are rushed into publication because of competition. There are at least two other books dealing w/ this case.

It's amazing anyone dares to commit a crime w/ the state of modern forensic evidence. Back in the 1890s when Lizzie Borden killed her folks (apparently), forensics was so primitive, the police couldn't tell if a hatchet had blood or rust on it.

anyway, i appreciate the welcome. I do a lot of reading and will try to go to the library today and see if they have the one you are reading. At first i thought it was Edward Abbey's "Monkeywrench Gang," which I love.Lol!

Since you said sometimes we mention good books we are reading, I just read "What is the What?" by Dave Eggers. Very good and highly recommended!

Before that I read "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" by Jeremy Scahill. This was excellent, and is a very important read in our times, especially if you are from the US. Interesting too that now Blackwater is so big in the news. Hope some of you can read it.

As far as the picture in my bio, yes, that is a self-portrait I did, trying to capture my brainfog.

I have a personal website where I post a list of recommended books and brief review of ones most recently read. If you ever need a book recommendation you can go check it out. On my site I also have a poem of the week, song of the week, and a gallery of some of my art. I think the url is in my bio if you are interested.

I've decided that the books I'm reading and not liking are not the fault of the books but rather the fault of my mind. Lately my mind looks like Pascera's self-portrait of hers.

Sooooo, I figure that nothing I'd recommend would be good - or maybe it would be very good but I wouldn't know it.

I did read The Book Page, a little book review paper from the library. In it was an interview with Alan Alda about his new book, "Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself" - which, by the way, is a title I love and could have used myself had I written a book. I realize that this quote won't be a favorite of everyone but I laughed out loud.

He was asked, if he could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be?

His answer: "George Bush. Definitely. It would only take me minutes to resign."

Thus we may wish to consider or definitely not consider his book for our bookclub.